Pat Goldberg

I too love the Cape in the winter. We always spend Thanksgiving there with my New England relatives. Sometimes the roses are still in bloom; other times there are six inches of snow. We also celebrate New Years eve there, but I entertain at home, inviting a few close friends. I haven't been to Capt. Linnels in years. Went once to hear Dave McKenna play. As I recall the food was OK but not special. As to what else is open in the winter, this is a bit tricky. Some places are open all week, others only on weekends. Most places close down for a week or two in the middle of the winter to spruce up the place, to give the staff a vacation, etc. But with all that in mind, here is what I know is open year round: Montanos, BlackSmith Sop, JP FInely's, YardArm, Land Ho, HunamIII. Not reviewed, but open in PTown are Napis (downhill from its best years, but still reliable if overpriced), the Lobster Pot and Front Street. I have eaten in all of them and have found them all at least acceptable. But beware: Front Street opens only for dinner and if you have an early reservation, you can get mighty cold waiting for the doors to open! If you have other specific questions, I'll try to help.

Just returned to NYC from 2.5 months in Truro. In keeping with the mediocre level of restaurants on the Cape, I cannot say we had any spectacular meals, but a few were memorable. What follows are some comments on the restaurants I recall eating in, organized by town. If anyone wants more details, I will oblige. P'TOWN Clem and Ursies. A very casual place - you place your order, take a card with your number to your table, and wait for the food to arrive. The food is good, but not exceptional. What is exceptional is the variety: clam shack fried, Portuguese dishes, BBQ, Japanese salads. The price for lobsters is particularly good, although we didn't eat them. Pretty good selection of beer and wine. Gallerani's. On commercial street. Mostly pasta, some fish. Many of their dishes are quite spicy. We had a pretty good meal, but our son went another night and had pasta that had been badly cooked. Parking behind the restaurant. Sal's place. We have gotten good fish here in the past. This year it was overcooked. The view is lovely, the service is pretty bad. I doubt we will go back next year. TRURO Adrians. Largely pasta and pizza, with two or three entrees. Food middling, even for Cape Cod, but spectacular views. Some of the appetizers (eggplant, bread salad are quite good though. Able to handle large parties Montanos. A family restaurant open all year around. Claim to fame is a set of trivia cards at each table. Had a suprisingly good piece of grilled schrod with an side of pasta with oil and garlic. Salad is ice cold and uninteresting in any case. Blacksmith Shop. Seems to be under new management every year! We tried it again after a long hiatus, and the food was disgusting. I had stuffed flounder that was still frozen in the center. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Terra Luna. We had never eaten here until this year. It is a small restaurant with a small menu: a handful of salads and appetizers, four of five entrees, a half dozen entrees, ditto for desserts. The first three meals were fine: I had a striped bass special and the seafood Fra Diavolo over linguini that were quite tasty. Thai spring rolls were surprisingly good and the Caesar salad was adequate. So we confidently chose it as a place to go with friends for their only meal out on the Cape. It was a disaster! Everything was seriously undercooked -- they each had bluefish that was RAW in the center (and there was a lot of center). The accompanying baked potatoes were also raw. My duck breast was, to be charitable, indifferent. To be fair, when we complained, they comped one of the bluefish as well as our desserts, but it was not a pleasant experience. I guess we will hope is was just an off night. WELLFLEET JP FInely's is our restuarant of choice here. We eat there often, since it is also open weekends during the winter. It is a small place that does not take reservations, so there can be a wait. There menu is small, but eclectic, and there are blackboard specials every evening. The decor is nothing to write home about, but the food and friendly service makes up for this. EASTHAM North Eastham Lobster Pool. This is an old standby that has deteriorated badly over the past few years. I no longer am willing to eat their fried clams, having had some very bad ones over the last couple of year. Their french fries are now covered with some sort of spicy batter that renders them inedible by me, But they still make a good lobster roll and usually their fried scallops are OK. Arnold's. A clam shack. Usually the portions are large, but their clams are greasy (although our Siamese cat, a fried food freak, finds them excellent). Unlike many shacks, they have a beer and wine license. ORLEANS The Yardarm. A tavern. They have the best fried clams at this end of the Cape, as well as some pretty good blackboard specials. Can accommodate kids. A good choice for lunch Land Ho! Similar to the Yardarm, but a bit livelier. Less good on fried foods, but makes excellent burgers. REasonable clam pie and lots of blackboard specials. Tends to be crowded at lunch. HunanIII. Bad Chinese food. Avoid it. CHATHAM The Impudent Oyster. Pretty good for lunch, with their mussel dishes particularly recommended. However the bread served with the mussels is dreadful.

Tiis is the longest running post about a joke possible... No, the joke is about schrod, not about screwing. Full joke: A Bostonian goes to San Francisco, where a business acquaintance shows him a really good time. In particular, he introduces him to Dungeness crab. When the San Franciscan asks whether there is anything as good in Boston (remember, this is a joke), the Bostonian mentions schrod. The next time the San Franciscan is in Boston, he is very busy, and forgets the recommendation. However, when he is on his way to Logan, he feels hungry and remembers the schrod. So he leans over and asks the cabbie, "Cabby, where might I have schrod?" And the joke continues. The pluperfect part involves "have schrod." However, the subjunctive part of the joke requires "may" or "might"

This is actually a correction to the Fat Guy's "schrod" joke posted elsewhere. As posted, it makes no grammatical sense; this version will let other eGulleteers tell it and not get caught out. Actually the San Franciscan (the version I heard) says to the Boston cabbie: "Cabbie, where might I have schrod?" To which the cabbie replies: "Mister I have heard it in the present tense, I have heard it in the past tense, but this is the first time I have heard anyone use the pluperfect subjunctive!" End of grammar lesson!!!

I usually drive Interstate 95 between New England and Florida twice a year. I have had little trouble finding restaurants that are better than fast food restaurants-- not great restaurants, but adequate ones. If this can be done on I95, it can be done anywhere!!!

I rarely buy cake. Most cakes from bakeries are too sweet and too "fluffy" for my taste. But I recently bought an excellent chocolate cake from Connie's Bakery in Provincetown, MA. The bread there is also by far the best available on the outer Cape.

It is important to choose a soy sauce appropriate to the dish being made. There is no single "best" soy sauce. Take for example "Golden Mountain" mentioned by Katherine. I can't imagine using it in Chinese or Japanese cooking; on the other hand, it works very well in Thai and Vietnamese dishes. In Japanese supply stores, there are special soy sauces for use with sushi. Kikkomon makes one, but there are even better brands (I have some in my NYC house, but unfortunately for this thread, I am still on Cape Cod, so I cannot give you a brand name).

The NYTimes reported yesterday that Citarella's has opened, featuring the chef recently at Pop (Yvonne, take notice). Has anyone tried it?

The previous discussion of chowder has been only about clam chowder. Now clam chowder well made is very good, but there are much better chowders -- fish (especially when made with cod cheeks); corn, made with fresh corn and its "milk"; and eel stifle. I am sure there are more that other people prefer. All of these are made pretty much the way clam chowder is made. What are your favorite chowders?